2.1 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Chapter 2 Communicating in Teams: Collaboration, Listening, Nonverbal, and Meeting Skills

2.2 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Chapter 2 Objectives  Highlight the advantages and disadvantages of using teams.  Identify characteristics of effective teams.  Discuss tasks involved in preparing team messages, and discuss the nine guidelines for improvement.

2.3 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Chapter 2 Objectives  Describe the listening process and three barriers to listening.  Explain why nonverbal communication is so important.  Explain how you can improve meeting productivity through preparation, leadership and participation. continued

2.4 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Working in Teams  A team is a unit of two or more people who work together to achieve a goal.  Team members  Have a shared mission and are collectively responsible  Are responsible for reports, oral presentations, and meetings  Must communicate effectively inside and outside the team  Are involved in participative management

2.5 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Advantages and Disadvantages of Teams ADVANTAGES  Increased information and knowledge  Increased diversity of views  Increased acceptance of a solution DISADVANTAGES  Can be unproductive, frustrating, or counterproductive  Can develop groupthink  Can be derailed by hidden agendas  Can encourage free riders

2.6 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Group Dynamics and Team Roles  Group dynamics are the interactions and processes that take place in a team.  Team members can play various roles:  Self-oriented roles  Team-maintenance roles  Task-facilitating roles

2.7 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Stages of Team Development  Forming  Storming  Norming  Performing  Adjourning

2.8 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Developing an Effective Team Clear sense of purpose Creative thinking Open, honest communication Decision by consensus Focused on core issues

2.9 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Understanding Conflict  Conflict can be constructive or destructive.  Conflict can arise for many reasons.  Some reasons for team conflict:  Competing for scarce resources  Disagreeing over task responsibility  Communicating poorly  Differing values, attitudes or personalities

2.10 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall  Proaction  Communication  Openness  Research  Flexibility  Fair Play  Alliance Resolving Conflict

2.11 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Overcoming Resistance  Express understanding.  Make people aware of their resistance.  Evaluate others’ objections fairly.  Hold your arguments until the other person is ready.

2.12 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Collaborative Messages  Collaborative messages are team messages that involve working with other writers to produce a single document or presentation.  Technology can help team members collaborate on messages:  Videoconferencing allows people in several locations to “meet” via video and audio links.  Groupware (electronic meeting systems) allows videoconference participants to type messages anonymously and cuts down on chitchat.  Web technology offers large-scale work spaces in the Internet for online discussions, videoconferencing, and data sharing.

2.13 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Speaking with Team Members  People would rather talk to each other because talking  Takes less time  Needs no composing, keyboarding, rewriting, duplicating, or distributing  Provides the opportunity for feedback  Talking can be a problem because  We tend to do it without much thought  A casual approach can be a problem in business  It provides far less opportunity for revision than writing does

2.14 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Speaking with Team Members  To improve your speaking skills,  Be more aware of using speech to accomplish your objectives in a business context  Break the habit of talking spontaneously  Plan out your purpose and your main idea to fit your audience before speaking  Edit your remarks mentally  Focus on your audience

2.15 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Listening  We tend to take listening for granted, but few of us are very good listeners.  Good listening has several advantages:  It keeps you informed and up to date.  It gives you an edge and increases your impact when you speak.  It strengthens organizational relationships.

2.16 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Listening  Speak at a rate of 150 wpm, listen at 400 wpm.  In general, people listen at or below a 25 percent efficiency rate:  Remembering only about half of what has been said in a 10-minute conversation  Forgetting half of that within 48 hours  Mixing up the facts when questioned about material they’ve just heard

2.17 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Listening  Listening involves five related activities:  Receiving  Interpreting  Remembering  Evaluating  Responding

2.18 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Listening  Match listening style to the speaker’s purpose:  Content listening helps you understand and retain the speaker’s message.  Critical listening helps you understand and evaluate the meaning of the speaker’s message.  Empathic listening helps you understand the speaker’s feelings, needs, and wants.

2.19 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Listening  Good listeners recognize and overcome barriers such as  Prejudgment  Self-centeredness  Selective listening (out-listening)

2.20 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Some Types of Nonverbal Communication Facial Expression Gestures and Postures Touching Behavior Touching Behavior

2.21 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Nonverbal Communication  Nonverbal communication can be grouped into six general categories:  Facial expression  Gesture and posture  Vocal characteristics  Personal appearance  Touching behavior  Use of time, distance, & territoriality

2.22 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Spatial Language  Intimate Zone – 0 – 18”  Personal Zone – 18” – 4 feet  Social Zone – 4 – 12 feet  Public Zone - >12 feet

2.23 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Preparing for Meetings  Decide on the purpose.  Select participants whose presence is essential.  Choose an appropriate location.  Set and follow an agenda.

2.24 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Conducting and Participating in Meetings  Keep the meeting on track.  Follow parliamentary procedure.  Encourage participation.  Close and follow up.

2.25 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall  What are three ways in which an organization’s decision-making can benefit from teams?  What are the main activities that make up the listening process?  In what six ways can an individual communicate nonverbally?  What questions should an effective agenda answer? Test Your Knowledge Let’s Discuss

2.26 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall  How do self-oriented team roles differ from team-maintenance roles and task- facilitating team roles?  What is groupthink, and how can if affect an organization?  How can organizations help team members successfully resolve conflict? Test Your Knowledge Let’s Discuss continued

2.27 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall  What role does the leader play in helping a team produce effective messages?  How does content listening differ from critical listening and empathic listening?  What is the purpose of using parliamentary procedure? Test Your Knowledge Let’s Discuss continued